About

The original Creator of all reality is nothing more than a mindless engine of creation and destruction. The very manifestation of chaos. It is Z'xhuul. It dwells at the very center of all existence, between all other universes, in a place known as Primo Regni.

Z'xhuul's first lasting creations were the Excubiae - gods almost as powerful as Itself, but gifted with rationality and free thought. They quickly set about constructing their own Realms and combined Their gifts to seal these Realms away from the chaotic, destructive nature of their Creator, while still accessing the power they receive from it. They filled their Realms with creations of their own, and their creations created their own subjects, down to the lowliest of beings.

Once the Mother and Father of humankind, Jehovah has disappeared from view, while Lilith has vowed to take His head and destroy all that He has created.

Uthrasa was dedicated to a peaceful quest for knowledge, until Carnifice murdered Their baby brother. Now She is dedicated to the annihilation of all life in Lacerandam.

As is true with many offspring, a competitive dynamic developed between these "siblings", and there are alliances and battles between them and among their followers. All while the swirling chaos outside their gates constantly births new life and swallows old, swelling to gain entry.

The purpose of the game is to use your Excubia to combat the incursion of Z'xhuul's forces (represented by Entity cards and Doom Tokens) by placing and fortifying Seals at the mouth of your Doom Track. You will need to protect your Realm from your rivals as well, all while weakening your enemies and allying with your friends. Try to be the first to reach the victory point goal before Z'xhuul manifests in physical form, as The Great Nameless.

Each player's turn is comprised of five phases:

PRIMO REGNI - In this phase, the player will play the top card of the Primo Regni deck, located in the center of the board. Sometimes those cards will be Events, which may affect the whole board, or just the current player, but they are rarely good news. Other times they will be Entities, which, given enough time, will march down the player's Doom Track and consume their Realm.

REFRESH -Here, the player will draw cards and re-activate any of their cards that are currently on the board.

ACTION -This is the phase that comprises the bulk of the player's turn. This is when they will play up to two cards from their hand, perform actions printed on cards they have in play, perform their Realm's actions, place Seals from their collection onto the board, move around the board (or from one Realm to another) & attach equipment.

Entities will stay on the board and move into position, Entities will affect the game instantly and leave play, Artifacts will attach to Entities to make them more powerful, and Responses can be played on any turn, as long as the trigger is present.

COMBAT - In any turn where there are Entities from different factions that occupy the same space on the board, combat can be initiated. Entities deal damage to one another, which can be augmented by any Artifacts they may have equipped. Players can also play Responses from hand, which can act to alter the landscape of Combat. When combat is resolved, Entities are destroyed and survivors may retain their place on the board, or go home to rest.

END - This is simply when a player discards any cards exceeding their maximum hand size and passes the table to the next player.

The game ends when any player is able to place a Seal in Primo Regni as well as on all three of their Doom Track spaces. Alternately, the game will end when any one player reaches the Victory Point goal, at which point the players will finish the round and trigger end-game scoring. After this process is complete, the player with the most Victory Points is deemed the victor.

Logan Chops preview vid (just a quick note here - there is no player elimination in The Great Nameless. If a player's Realm is lost, they continue to play - they still get their Primo Regni phase, but instead of cards targeting that player and their Doom Track, that player gets to choose other players to be targeted)

Risks and challenges

PRODUCTION / SHIPPING / ART DELAYS
Like any in this industry, we are, to some extent, at the mercy of forces beyond our control:
Equipment failures or raw material shortages can cause unforeseen delays at the printing and packaging stage.
Weather, customs, or other random factors affect shipping from time to time.
We already have all of the artwork created for the game, but some stretch goals include upgraded art for some cards and components. Should we reach these stretch goals, we will need to add to the timeline in order to source and complete that additional artwork. The length of delay will be largely determined by the number of pieces necessary to source.
Any of these things could cause a delay in our timeline, and we have done our best to build these possibilities into it from the beginning. If we do experience delays greater than we expect, however, we will stay on top of tracking the interruption until your product is at your door.